WEBVTT SOLEDAD: FROM "THE SIMPSONS" TOSHE HAS BEEN SHELTERING GLASSIN HER NEW BOOK, SHE WRITES>> I WAS BORN, OF COURSE, INSOLEDAD: I SAT DOWN WITH HER INSOLEDAD: YOU WRITE A LOT ABOUTI WAS A LITTLE LIKE PARANOIDI WAS LIKE, OH MY GOD, SHE ISAND THAT WILL MAKE ME ANXIOUS.NELL: THE DEER IN HEADLIGHTS.SOLEDAD : WHY PUT YOURSELF OUTUNUSUAL, BUT IT SHOULDN’T BEAND THERE SHOULD BE HUNDREDS OFAND YES, IT WOULD BE BETTER IFI TRIED PERFORMING -- IN JUSTI TOLD THIS STORY ABOUT MEETINGAND HE SAID, "WHY NOT?DON’T YOU LOOK AT THOSE PEOPLE"YOU SHOULDN’T DO STAND UP.SO WHENEVER THAT GENE IS THATBUT AT THE SAME TIME, I LOVEI LOVE BEING PART OF HOLLYWOOD.SO THIS WAS A GREAT WAY TO DOSOLEDAD: WHY DO YOU THINK THEREI MEAN, AND 30 PLUS YEARS AGO,I THINK IT’S A BROKEN DOOR BELLAND THERE ARE SO MANYIT.BUT I ACTUALLY REALLY WANT MENCONNECTOR.LIKE WHEN SOMEONE IS STAFFINGAND THEN HIRE THEM.NELL: MY BINDERS OF FUNNY WOMEN.YEAH.SOLEDAD: YOU WORKED AT "VANITYYOU DESCRIBE IT AS SORT OF LIKEWHAT WHAT WAS IT ABOUT THEWITH WOMEN I WORK WITH."NELL: IT’S PROBLEMATIC WHEN IT’FOR TWO REASONS.ONE YOU KNOW IT SETSAND IT WASN’T JUST HIM.AND THEN THE SECOND, IS IT’SWRITER’S ROOM.IS IT COMPETITIVE?IS IT SHOUTING?IS IT QUIEIT’S LOUD.AND YOU GOT TO GET IN THERE, ANDAND I THINK THAT WAS THE BESTBEST GIG?YOUR FUNNIEST GREATEST MOSTNELL: WELL, A REAL HIGHLIGHT WASWRITING JOKES FOR THE PRESIDENTI WROTE A JOKE WHERE HE’S>> MY NAME IS BARACK OBAMA.MY MOTHER WAS BORN IN KANSAS.MY FATHER WAS BORN IN KENYA.AND I WAS BORN OF COURSE INNELL: AND THEN HE DOES A BIGAND I THOUGHT FOR A MILLISECOND,

Advertisement

Hollywood Writer on “Sneaking into the Boys’ Club”

Share

Shares

Copy Link

{copyShortcut} to copy
Link copied!

Updated: 2:55 PM EDT Mar 24, 2018

You may not recognize the name Nell Scovell, but you probably know her work; she’s one of Hollywood’s most successful comedy writers. Her credits include the Simpsons, the Late Show with David Letterman, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, and even Pres. Obama. Throughout her career, she’s been shattering glass ceilings, sometimes as the only woman in the room. Scovell sits down with Soledad O’Brien to discuss her new memoir, Just the Funny Parts, on how she broke into the business of being funny and why she is helping the next generation succeed.